Shramjivi Janata Sahayyak Mandal

Shramjivi Janata Sahayyak Mandal (SJSM) is NGO working since 1977, for rural development and upliftment of socially and economically backward communities residing in the remote, inaccessible areas of Western Ghat region including Satara and Raigad district of Maharashtra. The work was initiated in the backwater region of Koyna catchment area, where people were facing many problems like displacement caused due construction of Koyna Dam in 1962, followed by the grave incidence of massive earthquake in 1967 and declaration of sanctuary in 1980. The Koyna region is hilly, remote and inaccessible. The villages are far- flung and are totally cut off from the surrounding world where people were lacking the basic facilities like education, transportation, communication, health etc. The communities living in the area are mainly shepherds, cowherds and few are neo-buddhists with the traditional occupation of farming, wage labour and cattle raring. The remoteness of their habitat and peculiar...